Snackbar Games contributor Joe Teed attended this year’s PAX East in Boston and is sharing his experiences at the event.
The event was a little packed, with 1 1/2 hour waits for panels and some organization issues, so mostly I will be reporting on things I saw on the show floor.
A few highlights:
- Monday Night Combat (XBLA) – A mashup of Team Fortress 2 and DoTA from newcomer Uber Entertainment that really impressed me and seems more like a full game by itself
- Battle Block Theatre (XBLA) – The Behemoth’s new arena platformer, with some very creative game modes
- Shank (XBLA) – Klei’s new brawler game with some great comic book visuals and some fast and violent action
- Crackdown 2 (360) – If you were worried that this wasn’t going to be Crackdownier, you can rest easy
- The Calling (Wii) – A scary ghost game from Hudson that looks like it will use the Wii controls pretty well
- Red Dead Revolver (360/PS3) – Not much new to see for this one, but it still looks like a great Western spin on the GTA model
- Skate 3 (360,PS3) – Like Crackdown 2, it certainly looks like it keeps up with the original
- Nvidia’s 3D technology (PC, if you have the cash) – This was a lot more impressive than I think people were expecting and was, of course, WoW optimized
- APB (PC) – Realtime Worlds comes to the PC, but with only 4 players per side in the demo, this action MMO seemed generic and empty
- Puzzle Quest 2 (XBLA, DS) – Again, more of an existing classic, but the new isometric overworld view was cool
Sadly, about 70% of the show floor was dedicated to games that are already out there, so if it seems like my list is pretty much Xbox heavy, that’s not due to any bias here. Several cooling vendors even made a point of using Counter-Strike to demo their latest overclocking tech, which was positively baffling.
Due to the large lines, I was only able to make it to three panels, and while one on women in gaming was a flop, I made part of a solid chiptunes talk and concert, and an excellent panel by Naughty Dog on how they actually develop levels for Uncharted. I’ll have info on those as the day goes by.
